One Sad Item

Full transcript of the My True Ghost Stories episode “One Sad Item.” Listen to this episode.

One object in a cluttered church storage room is holding more than just dust. Welcome to episode 42 of My True Ghost Stories. Way back in episode 10, titled, I Got a Guy, which was published on October 1st of last year. In that story, I talked about a supernatural message that led me and church staff to a forgotten and cluttered basement storage room. There was so much to that story, the one I told back in October, that I left some out.

That episode would have been way too long if I had told the whole thing, and I decided to tell the rest in a future episode, and this is that episode. To quickly recap that story, the story I told in episode 10 of My True Ghost Stories from October 1st, that story was that my church was experiencing a weird, unexplainable series of paranormal events, and when they brought me in to help, I received some messages from the other side that uncovered a forgotten, cluttered, fire hazard full storage room, which had to be cleaned out. And there was a second message that I received along with the one about finding the cluttered storage room, and this second message is the part of the story that I left out of episode 10. This second message was less urgent than the first one, that first message being about that cluttered room, a fire hazard threatening the safety of the church building and its inhabitants, but the second message from that day, the one I'm telling you about in this story, this second message was still as prominent, and that second message, the one this story is about, was. There is one item in here that is holding a great deal of sad energy from confessions.

So in other words, the emotions around things that have been confessed to the clergy there were somehow attached to one item in that cluttered storage room. That's not really likely, Margaret, my friend who works there, said, when I told her that there was an item holding energy from confessions in that cluttered storage room. Margaret said, that's not really likely because no clergy ever had any offices in this building, so I doubt any energy from confessions from congregation members would be attached to anything in here. But I knew there was something in there, the message was coming in loud and clear, and I held fast to that statement. Now there is definitely one item in here that is holding a great deal of sad energy from confessions.

So Margaret and the staff eventually believed me. I mean, they had called me in to solve the paranormal problem in the first place, so they were pretty quick to agree and just start looking for that item while they cleaned. And the other part of the second message was that this sad item needed to be removed and it needed to be removed with ceremony. Once the church staff and I had discovered the room and the problem of the clutter, the story I told in episode 10, the decluttering began and it began immediately. I told them that as they decluttered to watch for this item, the one holding the sadness and to save it for me, because as I said, we needed to remove it with ceremony.

They said they would look for it and I knew Margaret would recognize what might be this sadness holding item, so she agreed to oversee the decluttering with an eye for this item, whatever it might be. She remarked again before I laughed about how unlikely she thought it would be that anything associated with confessions would be in here because they never had any clergy offices in this building. But still, she trusted me, so she said she would look out for it. And I knew it would be in there somewhere, this item holding the sadness of confessions. About a week later, Margaret gave me a call.

She asked if I could come by and look at certain items they had found while clearing out that cluttered storage room, and if I could come by to see if any of them might be the one that I had talked about, the item holding the sadness. I arrived at the church the next day and I noticed that their garbage and recycling was full of stuff, much of which I recognized from the storage room. I rang the bell to the rectory and after being buzzed in, I told them I was there to see Margaret, so they sent me downstairs to the cluttered storage room. And as I walked down the stairs, I could hear that the decluttering was in serious progress. I heard chatter coming from the room, and a custodian walked up the steps past me carrying a brown chair with duct tape covering most of the seat.

Hi, Jennifer. He said, I walked down the rest of the steps toward the bussel of the big cleaning project that was going on. I reached the bottom of the steps and at the end of the hall, I saw Margaret standing there, a little dusty and wearing rubber gloves. She spotted me coming toward her and waved me over. Hi, she said, thanks for coming.

Let me show you the things we found that we thought might be the item you were talking about. I walked toward where she was standing in the doorway of the room that was at the end of the hall. I walked past the storage room where the staff was busily throwing things into big black garbage bags. And I noticed as I walked by that storage room that you could actually see some light coming in through those ground level windows which had been blocked by clutter before. So real progress was being made.

When I entered the room at the end of the hall where Margaret was standing, I saw that they had set up three long folding tables along the wall near the door. And on them were a bunch of items. Items that were not junk like most of the stuff that was being stuffed into garbage bags down the hall. Margaret motioned to the tables and said, here are some things that we thought might be that specific item. The one you said had to be removed with ceremony.

On the tables were many items. They were lined up neatly next to each other, so I was able to clearly see what they were and pick up any energy from them. There were several statues, Christmas decorations, some framed artwork, a lamp, a few books, some photographs. Nothing was really standing out to me. I looked thoroughly through everything on that table, scanning for any negative energy or messages, but nothing.

None of these things were the item that I have been told about in the message. None of these were the item holding the sad energy. No, it's none of these things I told Margaret. She stood there looking at me and then at the tables. Yeah, I thought maybe not.

There's one more thing I have to show you. And she pointed down the hall toward the storage room. The storage room that was being decluttered. As we approached the door, it became obvious that it was very quiet in there. Nobody was working in the storage room at that moment.

They must have headed out to launch or something. So we entered this storage room and Margaret said over here and headed for the back left corner of the room near a window, a window that had no clutter left in it. We reached the corner and she went and stood next to the window. And she just stood there looking at me. I walked over toward her and as I got closer, I looked down at the ledge at the bottom of the window and Margaret motioned toward that ledge and said as I got closer and then there's this.

And there, tarnished and dusty, was a metal plaque reading Pastor Brian. I changed the name. I always changed the name. But let's say it said Pastor Brian. What is that I asked when I saw the plaque?

Margaret answered. That is the plaque that hung on the wall outside of Pastor Brian's office. She told me that Pastor Brian was the pastor here about 35 years ago. And this is the plaque that hung outside his office in another building where he had met with members of the congregation and the office where he had heard confessions. Well, that's it, I said.

You can tell. That's the item we're looking for. Yeah, I kind of thought so she said. That's why I left it here and didn't put it on the table. I wanted to find out what the ceremony was first.

Good thinking, I said. And we left it there for the time being until it was time for this item's a ceremonious removal. Margaret went on to tell me that although she was not at the church at the time, she had heard from members of the congregation that Pastor Brian had been mild mannered, sympathetic, and many people confided in him and made confessions. My guess is that he may have heard some upsetting things and carried those upsetting feelings with him. And they were somehow lingering in this plaque, this welcoming symbol of privacy that hung outside his door.

Margaret went on. Yeah, I had a feeling that this was the thing we were looking for. When all the stuff on top of it was removed, I told everyone to just leave it there. Jennifer says it has to be removed with ceremony. So we planned a ceremony.

We consulted with the current pastor who I will call pastor Edward. We told him that we had found the object that I had told everyone about and we described what it was and that we had to have a proper ceremony for its removal from the storage room and we had to perform this ceremony as a team. Pastor Edward was not to my surprise but to my delight 100% on board. So I told them I would create the ceremony and we made a plan to do it that following Sunday after church. I went home and started meditating on what the custom ceremony would be, consulting with St.

Michael and my guides and the guides of Pastor Brian. And to be honest, I was super excited that I was being trusted to take on this task, the task of creating this ritual. During that week, there was some planning calls back and forth between me, Margaret and Pastor Edward. I called them and told them that I had received my messages and that we needed a place to bury the plaque and that I trusted them to decide on the place and that we needed some holy water. I said Pastor Edward needed to say a passage for a funeral for clergy and then after that we would pour the holy water onto the plaque before it was buried.

I told them that they could remove the plaque from the window ledge in the storage room downstairs. Now that we had a plan for the ritual, but they had to keep it somewhere special until Sunday. They called me back to tell me that they had found the perfect burial site in a new garden that had been planted near the side of the church and that Pastor Edward was very excited to be bringing holy water that he had personally gotten from the Jordan River. They said that they had brought the plaque upstairs from the storage room and it was waiting in the sacristy. The next Sunday, I arrived at church and Margaret greeted me at the door.

We're going to meet at the side of the church by the new garden after the service. Margaret told me and also Deacon John wants to join us. Again, I was thrilled that I was going to be leading a ritual with the clergy and these church elders. I was thrilled that they believed me about the whole thing and that they trusted me with this task. Or most of them believed me at least.

Now obviously from this story, it is plain that Pastor Edward and Margaret believed me. But what I didn't know and I'm glad I didn't know at the time. Margaret told me later what I didn't know was that Deacon John wanted to attend because he had found out about it from overhearing a conversation between Margaret and Pastor Edward. And he thought the plan was ridiculous and he wanted to attend so that he could debunk the whole thing. And I'm so glad that Margaret and Pastor Edward did not tell me that beforehand because it's pretty much impossible for me to connect with the other side and to perform a ritual knowing that someone is there that doesn't believe.

But thank goodness Deacon John did not let on that he didn't believe. He showed up at the side of the church by the new garden with a smile in his face after the church service and he participated willingly. After we all gathered, Pastor Edward produced the plaque that he had brought out from the sacristy. He put the bottle of holy water on the side near the garden where we would bury the plaque and he was carrying the book that contained the passage for a clergy funeral that he was supposed to read. We got started.

I had them stand in front of me so that I could put protection around them so none of the energy from the plaque would attach to them as it departed and they all did it. They all bowed their heads as I stood in front of them whispering and making big circles with my hands. They all did it including Deacon John. We performed the ceremony. Pastor Edward read the passage and picked up the plaque and as he poured the holy water on it right before we put it into the ground, I felt the spirit of Pastor Brian, the one whose plaque we were bearing.

I felt him join us just for a second. He flashed in and stood on the end of the line next to Deacon John. He just appeared for a second right before this burial took place and then he was gone and his spirit went most definitely in an upward direction. Okay, that's it. I said to everyone after Pastor Edward and Margaret finished burying the plaque.

Thank you so much for doing this with me and I bet Pastor Brian thanks you too. They all thanked me back and we slowly dispersed into the sunny Sunday afternoon and I was so glad that the spirit of Pastor Brian had joined us for a moment. Standing next to Deacon John just for a second, that let me know that this had been a success. After Father Edward and Deacon John had left, I told Margaret about Pastor Brian's quick appearance. And it was a few days later that Margaret told me about Deacon John's intention, how he didn't believe, how he was going to somehow debunk the whole thing.

However, she said that he said to her on that same Sunday afternoon that we performed the ceremony and I had left. Deacon John had said to Margaret, well that was ridiculous, right? And Margaret said that she disagreed with him and they talked a little bit about it and then he asked, who was the man that joined us? What man? Margaret asked Deacon John.

We were the only people there. No, Deacon John said, a man came and stood next to me for a second right before we buried the plaque. But then he must have left. Oh, that, Margaret told Deacon John. That was the spirit of Pastor Brian.

And she told him what I had said. The Pastor Brian had joined us for a second and stood right next to him. Oh, I see, he said. And that was the end of their conversation. And I don't know if that made him a believer, but I know we gave him something to think about.

And as far as Pastor Brian goes, I hope that he was able to cross over to the other side, free of the burden of the things he heard here on this earth. And if you have enjoyed this episode of My True Go Stories, please take a second to subscribe, review and share it with a friend to help this show grow. And that's all for today. Thank you for listening to today's episode. And if you think your house is haunted, want energy cleared from your space or need a custom spiritual ritual, I'm here to help.

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